I like the pace of technology, especially in finance where it can move so fast. In 2015 I was named one of the 25 top global finserv influencers. (http://bit.ly/1DsqaeK) In addition to Forbes I write for International Finance Magazine, Banking Technology and Mondo Visione, all based in London.

IBM Takes Mobile To The Road With Tools & Strategy

IBM has unleashed a number of mobility software products and services to help firms prepare for what McKinsey, the consultancy, says will be $130 billion in client spending by 2015. More than 10 billion mobile devices will be in the hands of consumers by 2020. A study by Morgan Stanley Research says that 90 percent of mobile users keep their devices within arm’s reach 24×7. It does not say what effect this has on relationships or important activities, such as sleep.

An IBM global CEO survey showed that their top concerns were either mobile or analytics, said Mike Riegel, vice president of mobile and WebSphere solutions at IBM. Companies are scrambling to adjust to the the fast-moving world of mobility — CIOs who are working with mobility expect to launch 25 or more within the next year — a pace quite apart from mainframe development, for instance.

“When you are going to develop mobile apps, you have to iterate much more quickly, traditional enterprise app would take 6 to 9 months to deploy. In mobile, you get it out quickly, get feedback and issue a new release. It helps cut cycle time by 25 percent. Think how often you get updates to your mobile apps; it’s pretty often.”

Mobile provides new ways to reach and interact with customers, and it also presents a host of big challenges, said Riegel.

Security is the first. While the mainframe was safely locked away in a glass box or an off-site data center, iPads and mobile phones often end up on the sofa or floor at home, with kids using them. Not to mention the ones that end up left behind in taxis and restaurants. They run on four major operating systems — Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows, (Symbian no longer gets much love) each with its own security challenges that must be met for every one of those 25 apps CIOs foresee.

Through its acquisition of Worklight, IBM has a tool that lets developers write once and deploy across multiple mobile platforms. It also handles the app store deployment which recognizes the device a customer is using, and the version of its operating system, and pushes out the correct version of an application.

“We give customers a lot of guidance on this,” said Riegel. “If you are trying to take advantage of one two features on iOS that don’t exist on Android, you really have to think about it.”

If employees are using the same device for work and personal communications, that means employers have access to staff all the time.

“There isn’t a weekend that I don’t answer an email that pops up on my phone,” said Riegel. Corporations are beginning to understand that if they develop cool business apps, their employers might be lured into doing work in their formerly free time.

“User design and cool design are in vogue again. You hear people brag about how cool a mobile app is,” said Riegel. “A good mobile app isn’t just an extension of a Web site or corporate applications; they are built for purpose — for a simpler set of tasks and a heavy focus on the user interface.”

In security, IBM offers Security Access Manager and Security End Point Manager which offer context-based security. For example, a nurse working on a tablet in the emergency room could have instant access to a patient’s records because GPS and the network show where she is. If half an hour later she is working from Starbucks down the street, the tablet will require more authentication and provide view-only access to records. If she leaves it in a taxi, the hospital can wipe everything on it, or if her work data is stored in a container, it can wipe the hospital information while leaving her personal information and family photos intact.

Although mobile has been around in a big way at least months after the iPad launched nearly three years ago, a major pain point with customers is developing a broad mobile strategy.

“Customers haven’t had time to develop a holistic strategy. They know they need to embrace mobile, they have launched pilots, and now they know they need to step back and develop a more holistic strategy — everything from business strategy to new opportunities to infrastructure for mobile.

Some companies use mobile as the catalyst to simplify their entire infrastructure. Air Canada used mobile to replace silos of information with a single source that looks the same, and provides the same information, across its gate agent terminals, kiosks, Web site and mobile devices.

Another IBM acquisition, Tealeaf, allows app developers to monitor how every single user uses an app looking for patterns, do they swipe or pinch, do they get stuck at some point in the app or crash it. As you push them a coupon, do they look at it, accept it or dump it.

“This gives developers the critical data they need to tune for optimal performance and outcomes.”

As IBM has worked with customers in mobility it has seen the conversations shift from which browser was leading, or bandwidth issues to what can mobility do for business. Customers have made it through the first wave and are now asking how they can drive transaction, improve relationships with merchants or offer customers real-time coupons based on their location.

Visa is using payment information to identify shoppers in a particular mall by their payments on the card and them pushing them a coupon worth 20 percent off at the Gap store in that mall.

“Visa launched this new capability with a Gap Mobile4U pilot program which sent text messages to customers such as, “Out and about? Stop by any Gap store and save 20% on 1 regular price item. 2 days only.” The pilot program resulted in a 109% lift in sales for Gap Mobile4U consumers versus a control group of customers,” reported IBM.

Korea’s Lotte Card Co Ltd., with more than one million customers, developed a deep app with more than 100 screens. With IBM Worklight, developers can work concurrently on several of the application’s 100 pages. They were able to get the first release done in eight weeks and they update it on a regular basis, said Riegel.

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